Rutherford stays busy

Team also retains Miletic for a year

Penguins add depth along blue line with signing of Cody Ceci.

The Penguins added depth tothe right side of the blue line Saturday signing 26-year-old defenseman Cody Ceci to a one-year contract. The deal carries a $1,250,000 cap hit in the2020-21 season.

Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford was working with a limited budget in free agency. The Penguins had about $2.5 million in salary cap space.

Ceci provides a low-cost option on the back end of the defense. He likely will compete with Chad Ruhwedel and others for the starting job on the rightside of the third pairing.

“He’s a player that has experience,” Rutherford said. “He’s played in different situations with two different teams. He’s a good two-way defenseman. He kills penalties pretty well. Depending on the style of play, he’s a good enough skater to play in our system.”

Ceci was initially a firstround pick (15th overall) by the Ottawa Senators in 2012. He spent his first six seasons in Ottawa before a trade brought him to Toronto for the 2019-20 season. On a oneyear, $4.5 million contract with the Maple Leafs, he appeared in 56 regular-season games and all five qualifyinground games against Columbus.

“All around, I thought the fit and the opportunity to compete for the Stanley Cup was there,” Ceci said. “It worked for me.

“They just said they have high-end offensive talent. They were looking to add more defensive guys to their lineup.”

At 6 feet 2 and 210 pounds, he’s a bigger, defensiveminded defenseman who racks up hits, blocked shots and short-handed minutes.

Asked what Ceci’s role will be, Rutherford said, “We’ll let [coach] Mike Sullivan sort that out at camp.”

Miletic returns

The Penguins also announced that they retained Sam Miletic, their lone American Hockey League All-Star from this past season. Miletic, a restricted free agent, signed a one-year contract. The two-way deal has an annual average value of $700,000 at the NHL level. The 23-year-old forward had 32 points in 62 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season, his second as a professional. Due to a bunch of injuries and call-ups, Miletic got significant playing time under WBS coach Mike Vellucci, who now is an assistant in Pittsburgh.